Shiroi, you just had to mention Amnesia on Letha's formspring, didn't you? And I just had to look up videos taken of people playing the game and freaking out. Goddamn. Worst part is: I'm watching these clips and thinking, "If I threw an SI into the mix, she'd either be running away with Daniel screaming her head off, or running at the monsters with a bloody machete. Still screaming her head off."
Then, because I love Poets of the Fall's "War", I looked into Alan Wake. Not as scary but has some pretty freaky shit right from the get go, especially if you think of yourself as a writer.
Game Dialogue: You don't even recognize me, do you, writer?
Sylph Writer: HO Snap, you talking to me?
Game Dialogue: You think you're God? You think you can just make up stuff? Play with people's lives and kill them when you think it adds to the drama?
Sylph Writer: I'M SORRY-! D8
Yeah. Worse guilt trip than when I watched Stranger than Fiction. For a good ten seconds. So I wrote this chapter while "enjoying" those two games playing in the background. Maybe, to some of you, that'll explain some things.
Anywho, important announcement time. Haven't gotten anymore votes in the polls for awhile, so I'm closing that NOW! Contest is OVER! And the winner iiiiiis-!
"Father" by Accessblade!
Second place is "Late Night Talks" by Dreamer's Samhain! What to award you...you can ask for a skit/brief conversation about a topic of your choice. Similar to, like, the Ame Omake but in the main fic. Brief character exploration.
Accessblade, your prize is the privilege of requesting a cameo for a character of your choice, and/or to assign a job for Brave Vesperia to tackle as a guild! Those two things can work together, cameo OC making job request or something, though you're free to just ask for the cameo or for an already in game character to make a new request (in character).
Dreamer's Samhain
Angelic:
Oh, would you look at that. I suppose that was a bit of a cliffhanger. I wonder why...
:D IT'S THE CREEPY SMILE OF DOOM, ONCE AGAIN! YOU GONNA FLIP!
:D
Some bloke:
*Scratches head* I likewise think it's rude to not at least try to answer reviews, so... Thanks for popping in, please come again?
Songs mentioned early in the chapter:
More of "7 Days To The Wolves" by Nightwish and "See Who I Am" by Within Temptation. And the Halo theme, by whoever. YES.
x x x
Chapter 42: A Moment of Silence Please
x x x
"This is-"
I started a bit, having mentally blanked while trying to reconcile the sight of the fairy dogs.
"-where heroes-"
...I'm no hero.
"-and cowards-"
...Gee, thanks.
"-part ways"
...If my player really was somehow aware and sharing premonitions with me, it had a sadistic twist to its personality. Must have been the bad influence from my computer.
"Light the fire, feast
Chase the ghosts, give in
Take the road less traveled by
Leave the city of fools
Turn every poet loose
"Howl! Seven days to the wolves-"
Shaking my head, I pressed the button to skip forward.
"Is it true what they say?
Are we too blind to find a way?
Fear of the unknown
Clouds our hearts today."
"Bah! Whatever, I give up!" I heaved a sigh and picked myself up off the sandy beach. If the fairies had their pets on the prowl, and for the life of me I had no idea what that was meant to accomplish, then I very much wanted to be indoors. No matter how stuffy my inn room felt.
"Come into my world,
See through my eyes.
Try to understand,
Don't want to lose what we have."
Leeethaaa... Someone up top is trying to give you a siii~gn!
Shut up annoying writer's sense that loves uncanny coincidences.
"We've been dreaming
But who can deny?
It's the best way of living
Between the truth and the lies."
Leeeethaaa~
Shut up I said. I irritably kicked my heel at the ground, leaving a darker furrow in the sand. Letha's not even my real name. I picked up my pace a bit to get back to the inn even faster.
"See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
Let's show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands,
This is not the end.
"Fear is withering the soul
At the point of no return.
We must be the change we wish to see."
Why wasn't I turning it off? Because I had loved this song ever since I first listened to the CD, and it was rare enough that I had the chance to listen to any of my favorite tunes. Even if they were being coincidentally ironic and preachy at me.
"I'll come into your world,
See through your eyes.
I'll try to understand,
Before we lose what we have.
"We just can't stop believing
Because we have to try.
We can rise above their truth and their lies."
My feet slowed until I was standing in place, in the middle of the street.
"See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands."
"This isn't good..." I muttered to myself, raising my hand to rub my palm across my face. At this rate I was going to work myself up into a state where I had to tell someone, like I had come so close to telling Judith. And odds were the first friendly face I'd be able to turn to would be Raven. Alexei's spy.
"See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
Let's show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
"This is not the end."
Hugging my arms close, I turned away from the Anteres inn, forgoing the welcoming light shining from its windows. Fairies at least were a danger I was getting used to, but I wasn't sure how to deal with accidentally spilling all the secrets I'd been sitting on for so long.
"I hear their silence
Preaching my blame.
Will our strength remain
If their power reigns?"
Yeah, that was it. That's what I was worried about. Issues over whether the others would blame me for my silence or accept it, or if any of the Big Bads around would get wind and start dog fighting over me. Or if they'd all just ignore me and go on with their respective Epic Quests and World Take Overs.
"See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
"See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
"This is not the end."
I sighed as the song concluded, not sure if I was relieved or sad that it was over. But then it was replaced by the Gregorian chant opening of the Halo theme song. Hells yeah!
"This had better be worth my time. I want to be done with Alexei's little project as soon as possible."
Seriously? What. The. FUCK? I ducked behind a convenient palm tree, unplugging the ear buds to cut the sound without risking the screen lighting up. Well, looks like I have a ringside seat for the next installment of 'Cumore, the Dastardly and Inept Usurper'! Said disturbing knight was standing by the town's exit, arms crossed and nose raised at an obnoxiously arrogant angle. Some lackey or another was standing before him with head bowed.
"That is, of course, if you've finally brought me some good news."
"I regret to report," the lackey said in clipped tones, "that our search parties have yet to locate the monster or its lair. However, by eliminating the-"
"Which is all to say that you still have no idea."
"With all due respect, sir," and it sounded like that amounted to no respect at all, "we're getting closer every day."
"Humph," Cumore waved a disdainful hand in dismissal. "I could care less about your empty promises, what I need is results. And I don't want to so much as see your face again until you've captured the blighted beast!"
"Understood, sir." The lackey saluted and was about to leave, but Cumore apparently wasn't satisfied enough with his last comment's degree of put down.
"Lieutenant Blakely," he drawled, "be aware that if you don't have anything to show for yourself soon, you can say goodbye to your position. And then you might as well stay out in those sands until you rot."
"Yes, sir," and the lackey, Blakely, walked away stiffly. He passed by my tree, and I shrank further back while praying he was too steamed at Cumore to notice. Prayers answered, or at least taken in consideration, he stormed past without a glance my way.
With a relieved sigh I leaned heavily against the palm tree, and then tensed as the action caused the whole tree to shake. The sound of the leaves rustling was veeery audible in the otherwise quiet night. SONUVA-
"Who's there?" Cumore's voice rose sharply.
Uhh, "Mreowr." Honestly, has that ever actually worked for anyone? I risked a peek and saw that Cumore had drawn his sword. Not working this time either.
"I warn you, breaking curfew and eavesdropping are heavy crimes. You won't get off lightly."
Maybe if I stay veeery still and don't make anymore noise, he'll decide it's not worth the bother and go away? And maybe I could learn to sprout wings and fly. Which, by the way, wasn't my way of totally ruling something out since a shiny pair of wings could very well be another magical fairy side effect I had coming.
Cumore, however, was indeed coming closer to inspect the tree that had only just stopped shaking. I hate my karma. It's totally busted. I shrank down, trying to merge into the sparse plant life growing around the tree's base, wishing I could meld into the shadows. Cowering and hiding from Cumore, of all people, was humiliating. If I wanted to I could probably take him in a fight.
But you never know when something small could make big changes. Avoiding contact would be preferable.
Whhh-thnk!
"Geeh!" Cumore's sword whipped through the air and bit into the side of the palm tree's trunk, a few inches above my head. Which surprised a choked noise out of me. I lurched forward and stumbled upright onto my feet.
"Well well," I cringed at Cumore's smugness, "Not a cat but a rat I've caught."
Oh what the hey, since I've already been found out, I straightened and turned to face Cumore directly. "I've been meaning to ask." I tilted my head inquisitively, "Is that your real hair color or did a mouse scare you so bad your hair changed?"
"What-you-how dare you!" he spluttered.
"Though blue would be a weird color in that case," tapping my finger against my chin, "so I guess that leaaaves~" I pointed at him with an overabundance of drama, "You have butt-ugly hair, don't you! And you dye it to try and make it look less gross!"
Cumore's expression was impossible to see, but I could make out how violently he was shaking. I must have pissed him off really bad. "I will cut that impertinent tongue of yours from your head!" he promised hatefully. With a tug he removed his blade from the tree and advanced on me in an unmistakably threatening manner.
Uh, whoops. That riled him up more than I thought it would. Gasp! Could it have been true?
Something clattered as it got kicked aside by his foot, drawing both of our attention down. It was my mp3 player, lying in the sand about a foot away from Cumore's armored boots. I must have dropped it when I got up so suddenly.
"What is this piece of rubbish?" he sneered and raising his foot, -oh wait SHIT-, he stomped on it with all his armor augmented weight.
SCRNCH. The sound of my player crunching into the sand broke my freaking heart. I could only stare at his foot, jaw hanging open, mind refusing to accept that the bastard just BROKE MY FRIGGIN' MP3 PLAYER.
I think I made some sort of noise, a squeak that blended anger and distress. Cumore very deliberately lifted his foot and kicked the crushed remains of my player in my direction. Swiftly I bent over and scooped it up, hoping it wasn't as bad as it had sounded. And it was still in one piece overall, but that one piece was being barely held together by wires, splintering plastic, and cracked circuit boards. There was a nasty acrid smell, which I guessed might have meant the battery was damaged and maybe leaking.
Cold metal tapped against my throat, and I realized Cumore had used my distraction to his advantage. And I was mildly glad that there was no one around to see how he'd done that so easily. "It really is high time I exterminate the pests infesting this dismal backwater. One can hardly expect me to uphold my duty as magistrate otherwise."
"Sorry," by talking my throat moved just enough that it got nicked by the sword, a bead of blood trickling down my neck uncomfortably. "But I'm not so fond of extermination." And then I flung my ruined player up into Cumore's face, startling him into drawing back slightly. Without his sword in position to kill me with just a twitch anymore, I jumped back to a more comfortable distance.
For a moment I hovered indecisively, right hand reaching for Oberon's hilt while my feet seemed more interested in continuing with the whole running away idea.
Scowling fiercely, Cumore kicked the broken player away again, though this time away from both of us to be lost somewhere in the street's shadows. Okay, I'm done playing games with his head, let's leave and mourn my dearly departed mp3 player in peace! Even if, dammitall, I'd love to get in a punch to his face or something to avenge my player.
But Cumore's already on death row, even if he doesn't know it. He's slated to die at Yuri's hand, though figuratively. My throat constricted at the thought, which I shunted aside to deal with later. Letting go of my dao's hilt, I gave a flourishing wave to the corrupt knight captain and turned to run off into the night.
I took one stumbling step and nearly tripped as my momentum still carried me forward when I tried to stop abruptly. Cumore said something, I dunno, probably some drivel along the lines of "you can't escape from me!" but I frankly didn't care what he had to say.
I was more preoccupied by the sight of another Cù Sìth, heavily wounded and right friggin' THERE.
"Oooh, Lordie..."
The dark creature was massive, easily twice the size of the largest dog I'd ever seen on Earth, and had a lopsided appearance as it was actually missing chunks. Its left foreleg was completely gone, and half of its matted tail. Both injuries were seeping a dark liquid (it being a fairy creature, I doubted that it would prove to be normal blood if one were to examine it) that dripped sluggishly and left a staggered trail in the street behind it. Wisps of smoke rose away from the wounds, curling and ephemeral in the dim light.
Slowly the dog raised its head, right eye glaring like baleful flame, though no light shone from the other. Seeing as its left ear was missing and smoking lightly, I would hazard to guess the creature was sporting a nasty injury that had cost it both an eye and an ear. A low growl thrummed in its chest, and it began to sniff the air noisily.
Is it...is it dying? Those injuries, all that blood...
"G-good gods, what is that? Who let it inside the barrier?" Cumore finally noticed we weren't alone. "N-no matter! I'll simply do away with both of you!" His bravado was highly unconvincing, as I could hear the clanking of his armor as he shuddered in terror.
But whatever he did outside my field of vision, it was enough for the Cù Sìth to perceive him as a threat. The deep growl got louder until I could feel it vibrating in my diaphragm, and its remaining ear flattened back against its skull. The barrier light glinted off of the stained fangs it bared in a snarl. Another thin stream of dark liquid dripped from its mouth to the ground.
"Cumore..." I started slowly, "Don't get it angry..."
"Don't think you can give me orders, you vermin!" Cumore scoffed, indignation overriding his fear momentarily. But that was when the Cù Sìth's growl broke into a howling roar and it sprang forward. I grabbed for my daggers, knowing I wouldn't have time to even draw those with how close it was, but the massive dog pushed past me, nearly knocking me over entirely. Instead it pounced on Cumore, sending him toppling to the ground and trying to bite at his neck. He'd be dead already if not for the gauntleted hand that had gotten caught in its jaws instead. Smoke seemed to be trailing from the creature's mouth as it wrenched his head and Cumore's arm from side to side.
Cumore lost all pretense of control as he wailed desperately, "N-no! Someone! Get it off me!"
I'd like to say that, even though I considered him first rate scum, I immediately acted to save his life. I'd like to say that. But I can't, because I didn't. And I can't say for sure if it was just shock or an honest desire to see him brutally killed that made me hesitate.
But there's no question that it was the sight of Cumore's sword cutting wildly at the Cù Sìth's side that snapped me out of it. "No, don't!" I grabbed for Cumore's sword, hissing as it cut through my gloves into my palms but not letting go. "Goddammit, man, don't kill a fairy pet!" They don't like being robbed of anything they consider theirs, no matter the circumstances.
Cumore had poor leverage on the ground, so he couldn't wrench the sword out of my grip, but he was stronger than me (A surprise, he seems like such a weakling) and I couldn't get a strong hold on the metal as it was slippery with the blood from my own hands. We struggled, me nearly succeeding in getting possession of the sword (I don't know what I thought I'd do after that).
Several things happened within seconds. A wild spasm from his sword arm, in reaction to the jaws on his caught arm shifting and nearly punching through the metal gauntlet, jerked the sword to the side. It sliced into the Cù Sìth's shaggy side, spilling more dark blood over both of us and thicker streams of smoke that made it hard to see. The dog released Cumore with an agonized howl, and Cumore was finally able to hold his sword with both hands. He tried to pull it away from me and towards the fairy creature's neck, definitely to finish it off. In my panic over getting into deeper shit with the fairies, I yanked back hard on the blade, more of my blood running down and mixing with the inky blood that had begun steaming on the metal. I wasn't thinking of anything but the burning pain in my hands, and that I absolutely had to protect the fairy's dog.
My right hand let go of the sword and drew a Gemini, the sword's edge lurched close to the dog's neck as it sagged weak and panting, and the dagger plunged into his chest where the armor was impractically excluded.
The force behind the sword my left hand was still trying to hold back weakened, then vanished. Cumore's hand fell to the sand. I was left holding a blood covered sword by the blade, with a dagger planted deep in something vital.
The Cù Sìth moaned, a deep and haunting sound. Its breathing was uneven and wet sounding. It lay tangled with Cumore's body, both of them drenched with red and black blood. But it didn't seem to be losing anymore blood, and the smoke was clearing. Somehow I didn't think that was a good thing. I searched through my pockets until I found a couple of apple gels, and held them out to the dying fairy. Teeth parting slightly, its head moved forward weakly, but instead of trying to eat the gels in nipped lightly at the glove of my left hand.
It moaned one last time, and then dissolved.
I stared at the empty space and mixing pools of blood. Unwillingly, my eyes were drawn to my Gemini, still stuck in Cumore's body. Cumore's corpse. I had killed him.
Fuck.
x x x
God knows how long I sat by the corpse, nearly as lifeless as the body I couldn't stop staring at. I felt numb, and kept willing myself to wake up and discover this was just another messed up dream. I'd long since ruled out that my adventure as a whole was a delusion, but couldn't this part please be just a nightmare? Something bad I ate or nerves getting to me in my subconscious?
There was the crunching of feet running across sand, and slowly it sank in that I was in a very incriminating position. Especially since one of the key factors, the fairy dog, had evaporated and no way would anyone believe it had been inside the barrier in the first place.
Adrenalin spiking for a second fight or flight reaction, I wrenched my Gemini from Cumore and forced myself up onto my feet as I looked around wildly for whoever was coming and to see if there was anywhere close enough for me to hide. Seeing who the late arrival was kept me from making a mad dash of escape. It was Chase, and it seemed he was following the trail of dark blood.
His run slowed to a jog as he drew closer, and then stopped not far from me. As he took in the scene, I looked him over with a sort of numb surprise. His brown overcoat and pants were heavily ripped and had darker patches that could have been blood stains. There was even a cut on his forehead that was still bleeding slowly. His claymore was in one hand, but the blade reflected a clean surface. The rips in his coat made the crossbow tied to his belt more apparent and couldn't hide that the half of the bow had been snapped off, rendering it useless.
"Letha..." he breathed, voice low as if to avoid startling me, "what happened?"
"I-" I raised my hands, seeing the blood on my gloves, the cuts in my palms, and the bloody dagger I was still clutching, "I think I-I think I just stole one of Yuri's defining moments...!" A detached part of my thoughts commented snidely, and I didn't even manage to pull off his badass style. Shame.
Chase's hands reached out and gently removed my fingers from my dagger, me flinching back at his touch. I watched dumbly as he wiped the blade with a relatively clean corner of his coat, and then held my dagger out to me again hilt first. "You still need this."
Staring at the dagger as if I didn't recognize what it was, I finally took it gingerly and returned it to the sheath on my belt. It took a few tries, since my hands had started shaking. Once I got it in I realized Chase was kneeling by the body, inspecting not the fatal knife wound but the mangled gauntlet. What he made of that, I don't know, since he only grunted and slung the arm up around his shoulders.
I watched in shocked disbelief as he stood up and lifted the body, heaving it up until it was slung over his shoulders. Shifting it slightly to distribute the weight better, he said, "I'll take care of this, you go back to the inn and do something about your hands. Leave like normal in the morning."
"Why...?" was all I could manage, though that one little word managed to sum up most of the confusion whirling inside my gut.
He shrugged with the unburdened shoulder. "For my dad and your uncle's sakes?" Seeing my unconvinced look, he sighed. "Look, I'll tell you about it some other time, but now it's a better idea to just make yourself scarce as soon as you can."
I nodded absently and this time obeyed, though I kept looking back at him over my shoulder until I turned a corner and lost track of him. From those glances, it looked like he was carrying the body off in the direction of the quicksand Cumore was supposed to die in.
Back in my room, I peeled the damaged gloves from my hands, hissing and biting my lower lip as the blood made them stick to the edges of my wounds. Using water I'd brought in a pitcher I'd borrowed from the kitchen and a rag, I carefully cleaned the blood away and examined the cuts.
My hands hurt so badly, but I didn't think anything important had been cut. Once I was sure there wasn't any dirt or anything left, I carefully fished out those two apple gels again. Slowly, I put both in my mouth and chewed the gummi like medicine. The wounds tingled and closed even as I watched, leaving only thin pink lines in my palms. Within a few days those would fade until nothing was left.
I stared at those lines until the cool light of the barrier and moon warmed to the light of early dawn.
x x x
Kill Steal
Letha: This is...what is wrong with me? I'm shaking...but only in part because I killed someone. My first thoughts were for keeping the fairies off my back, my second was that I altered an important plot point, and that I murdered him only came last! ...I've really changed, haven't I?
x x x
I shook his shoulder again, "Raven, get your perverted old ass out of bed!" The archer hadn't locked his door the night before, so I didn't have to rely on trying to bang his door down to wake him up. That doesn't work nearly so well as it does when the others are trying to wake me up.
The older man muttered something incoherent in his sleep, but he sounded happy.
"Well, I'll give this a try then." Taking a breath, I tried a method I'd played with the thought of testing a few times. "Woah! Judith, you shouldn't come in here without your clothes on!"
"Huh-wha..." Raven bolted up in his bed, "Where?" I smacked his head.
"I'd say in your dreams, but then you probably wouldn't have bothered to wake up." I tossed his bag onto his bed. "We're leaving soon."
He rubbed his head and eyed the bag like I'd dumped a pile of disgusting trash on his bed. "So early? What's the rush?"
Trying to avoid murder charges? "It's a good idea to try and cover as much ground as we can now before the sun's high and the desert gets to its hottest. We can take a break then in a tent." That was the smart thing to do that I'd read about in numerous books.
He groaned but swung his legs out of bed, "Ya promise?"
"If you behave yourself," I said a bit distractedly, looking at where Repede was lying at the foot of Raven's bed. The blue hound was awake, and watching us. He's smaller than the Cù Sìth, maybe a third its size... "What do you wanna do, Repede? Stay here or try the desert again?"
Repede whined, and his head drooped a bit.
"The innkeeper said he could keep an eye on the pooch," Raven told me, "Give 'im water and food, let him out for walks. The whole shtick." Repede snapped at the air in the archer's directions, as if offended at being treated like any old pet that needed a sitter when the owners were away.
"We'll try to get back as soon as possible," I assured him, "And while we're gone you can..." a single beat of hesitation, hopefully one they didn't think much of, "You can keep an eye on the situation with the knights taking people and blastia out into the desert."
Repede woofed assertively before laying his head on his paws and going back to sleep. If he was staying, no need for him to be up with the sun like us.
Raven echoed the sentiment aloud, "Lucky pooch."
x x x
We were back out in the Sands almost as soon as I could wish, stopping only to have a quick breakfast and top off our canteens. I didn't see Chase at all, and when walking the street out of town I couldn't find a trace of blood left, human or fairy. Without much humor I wondered if Chase had taken any cleaning jobs before.
This time I almost welcomed the overbearing heat. Raven didn't expect me to respond to his overly energized chatter, and my brooding was taken for heat induced lethargy. Karol had drawn up a rough map for us, Judith marking where she thought the desert spring was, and Raven took it on himself to try and use that to navigate. If we made good time, we should get there first since the others were going to take a longer route in order to search for the parents.
Like I'd suggested earlier, when the sun was near its zenith we set up a tent as a sun shade, using its monster repellent scent barrier. Declaring a nap was in order before lunch, Raven flopped down and was asleep in moments. I grudgingly lay down to follow his lead, since it had been over a day since I'd last slept. It seemed like the moment my head touched the bundle of clothes substituting as a pillow, I was asleep.
x x x
This time I needed only to see the sunset over the massive body of water to know I was dreaming. A lucid dream...could I control it now?
Concentrating, I looked around. Behind me was only a wall of fog, so I could start with that. I focused on it receding, of the water vapor clearing from the air. For a moment I was successful, though I didn't uncover anything besides more grass behind me. Then the fog rushed forward and swept over me all at once. I couldn't see anything but gray and white.
"I can't let you do that now, can I?"
x x x
When I woke up, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing before falling asleep. Slowly, I raised myself onto my elbows and looked around.
A tent, heat, bright sunlight filtering through the material and open flap, the feel of sand under my hands.
The Sands of Kogorh.
I sagged, still feeling exhausted. But we'd probably need to get moving soon, so more sleep was out of the question. Not that I wanted to, after more dreams. At least it wasn't a nightmare about Jasper or Cumore chasing me through hell, but that something like that wasn't even surfacing in my subconscious was a little concerning as well.
Don't look for the downside to everything. Nightmares about it wouldn't help anything.
"Letha, sweet, time ta eat!" Raven crowed.
I wasn't hungry, but eating was necessary to look normal and keep up my strength for any monster fights. Though the fact that we hadn't encountered anything besides a few dead monsters was odd. Unless the others were doing a lot of fighting while covering as much ground as possible, and anything they didn't kill was hiding. Convenient for us.
We'd been trudging through the sands for another three hours, Raven repeatedly declaring that the oasis would be 'Jus' over the next dune,' until I threatened to stuff Karol's map in his mouth. God, that was worse than the standard 'Are we there yet?'
Tired and moody, I didn't immediately realize when his rambling took a direction that cut close to everything I'd really been hoping to avoid. "Did ya hear that racket outside last night?"
"...What racket?" I asked wearily, not immediately making the connection. "Was it another carriage the knights were escorting or something?"
"Nah, this sounded more like some people were fighting monsters." I tensed, Oh shit... "It happened twice, an' the second time it sounded like someone was screamin'."
"O-oh..." But if Raven the heavy sleeper had heard it... "If there was a monster attack, why didn't you go to see what was happening?"
"I don't think anybody in that town would want ta go out at night," he said thoughtfully. "Not with the Knights causin' problems. Besides, if monsters got in somehow, there's more 'n enough Knights to deal with 'em."
"Yes, you're right..." It made sense, and had worked in my favor last night. Sort of. The fairy dogs might never have shown up if there were more people out after dark. But that train of thought wouldn't accomplish anything.
"But didn't ya hear it? I thought it'd wake ya up fer sure." He peered at me curiously from under the cloth folds of his head covering.
"N-no, I must've slept through it somehow..." I looked away, squinting as if I'd had glare from the sun in my eyes. Hopefully, Raven would think I'd be just as prone to staying inside instead of facing whatever it was on my own. And by the time we got to Yormgen, he should have forgotten.
Maybe another hour after that, the archer jumped up and down (what the crap, he solar powered or something?) and pointed out the glimmer of red sunlight shining off a waterfall of all things. Dredging up my reserves of energy, I sprinted after him to the shadow of the cliff face the small waterfall emerged from.
It was picturesque, and the water was the most refreshing thing in existence. I was cheered greatly, as the spring was the best thing that had happened since the night before. I even managed to start joking with Raven about how Rita was probably making things worse with her fireballs, and Karol was jumping at bug mirages.
I was just thinking about getting dinner started, since Raven had voluntarily covered lunch (simple sandwiches though they may have been, he'd been careful to make mine the way I like it) when Raven broached the topic of last night again.
"Ya know, I never said that I didn't go to look inta things last night."
Oh fuck and shit on a fan.
I tried to look casual as I started rummaging through our bags, still deciding what to make. "Really. You made it sound like you stayed inside."
He was stretched out on the sand, half in and half out of the reach of the shadow. Like a cat that had fallen asleep basking in the sun, only to have his patch of light move. "Yeah, I waited til it sounded like they were all gone before I went out fer a look around. Funny thing, I didn't find any sign of a fight at all."
Chase apparently took his cleaning jobs seriously, and was good enough to put any hard-to-please-mother-in-law to shame.
"All I found was this," my heart literally stopped for a second when held up my poor, abused mp3 player. Even Chase couldn't do a perfect job it seemed. "I dunno what this is s'pposed to be, I thought Rita would like ta have a look at it." He tossed the broken player to me and I nearly fumbled my catch. "Have ya ever read about anything like this in your aunt's books?"
Cradling my player in my hands, looking at it mournfully as if it were the remains of one of my dearest friends, I felt a twinge of remorse that I was even then trying to think of a lie that would make Raven lose interest and forget it.
It was no use. If I told him I didn't know, he'd show it to Rita and the others. If I made up a story, he'd still show it to them and see if either the mage or the princess had heard about my story before. Which they wouldn't have, and then Rita would get curious and keep poking at it and oh dear... And if I didn't think of something soon, Raven might start to wonder why I acted funny about it. I already had probably tripped a few warning flags at some point in the day.
"Hey Raven?" I said quietly. "Do me a favor?"
"What, yer askin' this old man to do more work after a long day walkin' through a hot desert?" he groaned as if he hadn't been practically skipping in circles around me earlier.
"No..." I swallowed, "Can you forget about this?"
He was quiet. What did that mean? "So you know what it is." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Does that mean it's yours?"
Raven was sharp. Or should I say, Schwann was sharp?
Well, I could be too.
"Please just forget about it? And don't tell the others about it."
"Now Letha," he sing songed, "it's not nice to keep secrets from yer friends!"
And his little wheedling comment backfired by giving me a perfect opening. "How right you are, Captain Schwann." And I might as well have written 'SUSPICIOUS' in big red letters on my forehead.
He laughed a bit too quickly, "C'mon, that one isn't even funny!"
"I believe there is a saying... 'The truth hurts'." It most certainly does.
"What makes ya think I'm a Knight? And a captain of all things?" he still tried to keep a light tone, as if playing along with a joke. We both knew it was anything but. And neither of looked at the other, his eyes still fixed on some point in the sky as he lay on his back, me bustling around making arrangements to boil pasta.
"Lots of little things," I tried to make it sound as if I'd merely put the pieces together. Which I kind of had, while watching the game, but they give the player more obvious clues there. "For one thing, you're awfully chivalrous for an old pervert."
"Be still my bleeding heart! When will all of you admit I'mma perfect gentleman?"
"Never. Next, I've heard a lot of descriptions of Captain Schwann, and you actually fit it pretty well." At least he wasn't as obvious as Superman and Clark Kent.
"I have heard he's an awful handsome devil."
"And Yuri told me about that first meeting you guys had in Zaphias. You know, when Alexei came to see you personally in jail?"
He had no smart comment for that. And I prayed he'd never ask Yuri if the swordsman had really told me that part.
I stopped in my work for a minute to walk over and stand directly over him. Our eyes met, no more laughter and all seriousness. "I've known for awhile. And I haven't told anyone."
"And your saying you'll tell them all if I don't forget?" he asked, and at that moment it really was Schwann, not Raven.
But Schwann was a good man too, and just as much a part of him as Raven.
"No." I held his gaze and tried to convey how honest I was about my words. "I'm saying, that I've kept your secret on trust, because I'm your friend. And I believe that you're my friend as well."
I wasn't looking forward to when he betrays us on Alexei's orders. Even knowing he was conflicted, and that he'd join us to try and make things right again, the thought of having to fight him someday was painful. Could he decide to leave Alexei for us early?
He was still watching me, searching my expression for some sign or other, before nodding slowly. "...I won't tell them."
That hurt, because my first thought was that despite his promise, he might tell Alexei.
I hoped the others would find the spring and join us soon.
x x x
YOU ALL DIDN'T EXPECT THAT, DID YA NOW?
Let us observe a moment of silence for the mp3 player, who fell valiantly in the line of duty.
I don't even know how long ago I decided to have Letha kill Cumore early. The idea came to me and I went "DUDE, I don't know HOW I'm going to do that but I WILL." Took a lot of effort to set it up, and it was still hard to get the plot to cooperate. Especially since I was trying to not recycle Birdman's Death in anyway.
And God, I love Raven. And now I love Schwann. So much I can do with writing with him! And did anyone else think Raven seemed to be doing a better job than Yuri at interrogating Letha? If she didn't have the info to turn the tables on him, just imagine!